[at-l] Where germs live

[nealb at midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

Sorry but I do not remember which "germs" they mentioned.  One thing they
did mention is that the "bugs" seemed to like the pores and crevices they
found in the plastic.  And I know from an article I read it the early 90s
that milk jugs or jugs that milk was carried in or made in were the worst
from breeding "germs".
 
I guess the safest way is to put nothing in your CLEAN / PURE water bottle
but clean water.  And don't drink directly out of it.  
 
Use a cup for drinking.  Squirt the water directly into your mouth.  Use a
nipple that won't let things flow back into the bottle and change the nipple
often.  Also, don't mix things in your clean water bottle.  
 
And do what Platy said.  Clean with good soapy hot water when and where
possible.
 
IF YOU'RE DELICATE, DON'T READ THE NEXT LINE:  Often the "dirtest" part of
your body is not the end food comes out of, but the part that food goes
into.  
 
William, The Turtle

-----Original Message-----
From: Platy Hiker [mailto:platyhiker@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 10:01 AM
To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Cc: nealb@midlandstech.com
Subject: RE: [at-l] Where germs live


William,
 
Did the TV station story include any information about what "germs" were
found?  E-coli?  Giardia?  (What is commonly found in saliva, anyway???)
Mold?
 
I know that when I've sometimes left partially filled water bottles standing
for a few weeks after a hike, that a film sometimes form inside the bottle.
I clean the film away by using a long handled spoon to manuveur a sponge
around inside the bottle, using hot water and soap.
 
I've also noticed that sometimes I get block spots in the threads of the
lids of Nalgene bottles.  (I'm guessing that's mold.)  Those are truly a
pain to get rid of - the sponge doesn't easily git into all of the small
spaces.  I sometimes use an old toothbrush to scrub, or wad up bits of paper
towels to get into the awkward spots.
 
I guess the one useful thing we can get out of the article is that hikers
should regularly give water bottles a good cleaning.  AT thru-hikers can
make that chore easier by taking advantage of the plentiful hot-water supply
available during town-stops.
 
Platypus




  _____  

Do you Yahoo!?
Free online  <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/tag/*http://calendar.yahoo.com>
calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.hack.net/pipermail/at-l/attachments/20030605/6983f1fd/attachment.htm